Alex Garland’s Elden Ring Film Should Capture the Essence of Epic Fantasy Battles

If you could just, like, close your eyes and dream up the perfect director to tackle an Elden Ring movie, who pops into your brainbox first? Is it the usual suspects like, I dunno, Peter Jackson? Guillermo del Toro maybe? Or that Miguel Sapochnik guy who gave us those epic Game of Thrones battles? But hang on a sec, if your tastes lean more towards the quirky, how about Robert Eggers or Yorgos Lanthimos? Bong Joon Ho could also throw in a spicy curveball, considering his films are as surreal as they come.

But here’s the kicker: you probably wouldn’t plunk down cash on Alex Garland. Yeah, Alex freaking Garland! Look, I adore Ex Machina and Annihilation – all that sci-fi goodness, you know? But they’re not exactly FromSoftware’s vibe. So when A24 announced him for Elden Ring, my brain kinda did a double take. Garland, it seems, is all in, writing and directing, and I’m left wondering where he’s going to take us.

At first glance, pairing Garland with Elden Ring sounds about as natural as a dragon riding a bicycle. His sci-fi roots don’t exactly scream “fantasy wizardry,” and gaming adaptations are this whole mysterious puzzle, right? Anyway—wait, no—where was I? Oh yeah, Garland’s storytelling leans heavily on dialogue and plot, while FromSoftware is like peeling back layers of an onion, with spicy lore hiding in item descriptions. Plus, the man’s latest stuff, Civil War, didn’t exactly wow the audience on the narrative front.

But who are we to assume he can’t handle fantasy? Garland is no stranger to reinventing himself. Each of his films dips its toes into different waters, and he’s definitely not scared of the deep end. What’s funny is, Garland’s gaming cred isn’t zero! Back in the day, the vibes from Resident Evil seeped into his script for 28 Days Later, and don’t even get me started on The Beach with DiCaprio having a game-inspired moment. Who knew?

All this brings me to something Garland said about Dark Souls. I’m paraphrasing here, but he talked about it feeling like an existential dream, with cryptic souls hanging out in doorways. He truly gets that intrinsic weirdness. An Elden Ring movie could borrow the psychedelic flair from Annihilation, maybe dress it up in trippy visuals. Or maybe… hear me out… Garland channels Warfare – his intense Navy SEAL flick – and thrusts us into that battlefield chaos, the kind of madness Elden Ring is known for, where we’re a Tarnished, lost in struggle.

Imagine trading the chaos of Ramadi for the twisted ruins of Limgrave or, wow, the messed-up lanes in Caelid? That’s a movie I wanna see! Forget piecing together some complex backstory of gods and demigods (Marika who?), just dive into what the Tarnished experiences, the dread and drive of survival, each run to a Site of Grace a triumph. And if Garland ropes in Kit Connor from Warfare as the lead, brace yourself for something intense and gripping.

In borrowing from Garland’s high-tension style, an Elden Ring flick could straddle that line of thrilling storytelling and nerve-wracking action, much like HBO’s The Last of Us – yes, fight me, that’s peak video game TV right now. Elden Ring isn’t about flashy, all-powerful heroes. Nah, it’s raw and gritty, an ode to getting knocked down a peg and pushing on regardless. Garland’s flair for psychological depth and chaos could really add something to this world.

So, as we wait to see how this story unfolds, my popcorn’s ready. Garland’s foray into this wild, mesmerizing universe might just end up being a cinematic gem. Can’t wait to see how he pulls this off!